Transformer and Reactor Life Management

About

Study Committee A2 (Power Transformers and Reactors) is responsible for all aspects of power transformers and reactors with CIGRE throughout their life cycle from procurement to disposal.  Study Committee A2 places a special emphasis on innovative solutions to problems facing both manufacturers and users.  A power transformer is a non-mechanical apparatus used to change the voltage but not the frequency of an alternating current supply.  Power transformers play an essential role in the generation transmission and distribution of electricity.  A reactor is a non-mechanical apparatus of similar design and construction to a power transformer used to control voltages or currents in parts of the electricity network. Luiz Cheim has been working with Hitachi-ABB Power Grids (Transformers) as a Sr. Principal R&D Engineer for several years having over 30 years experience in the power transformers industry. His major activities as part of a global R&D team are in the development of transformers condition assessment and performance models and algorithms as well as the development of new sensors and state of the art monitoring technologies. He is the proponent of the new Hitachi-ABB Transformer Inspection Robot (TXploreTM) on which he gave several interviews such as to the Public Utilities magazine (November 2019) and Transformer Technology (March 2020). The inspection Robot was also awarded the Power Product of the Year by the UK Electrical Review (May 2019). In August 2018 Luiz was granted the Best Paper Award CIGRE Study Committee A2 for this paper on the use of Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning techniques in support of transformer diagnostics. He has filed for over 20 patents over the last 10 years alone with Hitachi-ABB including the Dynamic Transformer Management Program DTMP as part of the Lumada Asset Performance Models (APM) in cooperation with the ABB Grid Automation team. Luiz Cheim has been a member of the IEEE and Cigre since the 1980s and has taken several prominent roles in both organisations. He was appointed as Technical Chairman of two Cigre SCA2 International Colloquia in Moscow 2005 and Shanghai 2015 respectively. Adish Kumar Gupta is a graduate in Electrical Engineering from National Institute of Technology Kurukshetra in 1989 and has been working in various power system domains in Power Grid Corporation of India for the last three decades. He started his career as an HVDC maintenance engineer in Rihand-Dadri Transmission System (Indias first Bipole HVDC network) and in mid 2000s he was involved in commissioning of Ballia-Bhiwadi HVDC link. In the period of 2005-2007 he was assigned as head of Transformer Specialist Group in Northern Region of Power Grid being directly responsible for maintenance of transformers in the parts of the region. In 2009he set up a specialised testing laboratory at Bhiwadi for advanced diagnostic testing of oil filled equipment with facilities like DGA FRA Furans etc. The model has since been adopted to establish 10 other labs in Power Grid. In the period of 2011-2014 he set up two greenfield 400kV substations and associated transmission lines. Subsequently he led the project commissioning works (including commissioning of various EHVAC substations and lines) in Indias Northern region in the period of 2015-2018 which was highlighted by the commissioning of Indias first green energy transmission corridor for evacuation of solar energy from western desert region in India. Since 2018 he has been the group head for Asset Management of Transformers and Reactors in Power Grid responsible for drafting and implementing operation and maintenance philosophies and guidelines for more than 3000 large power transformers and reactors. One of the major highlights during this period has been the in-house development of Asset health Indexing App for transformers and reactors which has helped in real time risk-based health assessment of equipment. Adish Kumar Gupta has been a member of both IEEE and CIGRE. Since 2018 he has been actively associated with CIGRE working group A2.58 for development of Technical Brochure on Installation and Pre-Commissioning of Power Transformers. Tara-Lee MacArthur completed her Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering at Queensland University of Technology from 2008 to 2011. She is currently a Senior Engineer (Transformers and Reactive Plant Asset Maintenance) with an Australian energy utility recognized for her expertise in power transformer specification design and transformer life management. Tara-Lee has been a member of the CIGRE Australia A2 mirror panel since 2015 and has served as a Director on the CIGRE Australia Board since 2020. She has been an active member within CIGRE internationally as secretary of CIGRE Working Group A2.49 between 2016 and 2019 and has chaired A2 AG.2 on knowledge transfer since 2020. Additionally she co-edited the companion Green Book on transformer procurement and continues in that role for the current edition. Tara-Lee is a registered professional engineer in Queensland Australia. Simon Ryder was born in England in 1973. He studied Engineering Science at St Johns College Oxford University between 1992 and 1996. He worked for GEC Alsthom and later Alstom between 1997 and 2003 in transformer design development and eventually research. He is known for his work on thermal characteristics of transformers and frequency response analysis (FRA). He joined Doble in 2003 initially working mainly on transformer life management. Since 2009 he has worked mainly on transformer procurement especially supplier qualification and development. Simon Ryder is a senior member of IEEE-PES a fellow of IET and a Chartered Engineer. He was a member of CIGRE working groups A2.36 on transformer procurement D1/A2.47 on advances in DGA interpretation and A2.58 on transformer installation pre-commissioning and trial operation; and was convenor of CIGRE working group A2.48 on shunt reactors. He was chairman of CIGRE Committee A2 on power transformers and reactors between 2016 and 2020. He was editor of the CIGRE Green Book on transformer and reactor procurement.